Building structures with an intermediate floor and socket-connected uprights



NOV. 12, 1968 c, T ET AL 3,410,041

BUILDING STRUCTURES WITH AN INTERMEDIATE FLOOR AND SOCKET-CONNECTED UPRIGHTS Filed June 1, 1966 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 1O L I Awzwroes ///leky (041.577 6047 dncx DAV/D Ado/2E? KENNETH 41.5: (ml;

Nov. 12, 1968 H. c. BOLT ET AL 3,410,041 BUILDING STRUCTURES WITH AN INTERMEDIATE FLOOR AND SOCKET-CONNECTED UPRIGHTS Filed June 1, 1966 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Z]: L. M I

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Nov. 12, 1968 BOLT ET AL 3,410,041

BUILDING STRUCTURES WITH AN INTERMEDIATE FLOOR AND SOCKET-CONNECTED UPRIGHTS Filed June 1, 1966 5 Sheets-Sheet L FIGB bvuewrmes finezv (041.577 501.7- t/Acz DAV/D Ma/zse {aw/Era Au a km/ NOV. 12, 1968 c, BOLT ET AL 3,410,041

BUILDING STRUCTURES WITH AN INTERMEDIATE FLOOR AND SOCKET-CONNECTED UPRIGHTS Filed June 1, 1966 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 //v VENTOAS ,9 Try.

United States Patent 3,410,041 BUILDING STRUCTURES WITH AN INTERME- DIATE FLOOR AND SOCKET-CONNECTED UPRIGHTS Harry Collett Bolt, Jack David Moizer, and Kenneth Alec King, Bletchley, England, assignors to Terrapin (Overseas) Limited, Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, England Filed June 1, 1966, Ser. No. 554,390 Claims priority, application Great Britain, June 9, 1965, 24,381/ 65 6 Claims. (Cl. 52236) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A building unit comprises an intermediate floor, lower corner uprights for supporting the floor, a roof, and upper corner uprights for supporting the roof on the intermediate floor. The intermediate floor has upper and lower sockets at each corner to receive the upper ends of the lower corner uprights and the lower ends of the upper corner uprights. Each socket has a flat surface inclined to the horizontal and an adjacent vertical locating wall. Each upright has an inclined end surface to seat on the inclined end surface of the corresponding socket and an adjacent vertical surface to seat against the vertical locating wall of the socket so that in use the ends of the uprights are urged against the socket walls by the weight of the structure.

This invention relates to buildings which can be factory made ready for speedy assembly on any desired site and which have a ground floor and at least one upper storey.

One object of the invention is to enable such a building to be stacked in convenient units on a lorry and which is easily and quickly erected on arrival at a building site.

A further object is to enable such a building to be constructed based on some of the principles disclosed in our prior British Patents Nos. 795,975, 901,483 and 901,484 wherein a building having only a ground floor comprises a series of units fixed together side by side and/or end to end, each unit having a floor member of greater length than width, uprights at the corners of the floor member, and a roof member supported on the uprights.

According to the present invention we provide a rectangular floor member suitable for an intermediate floor of a building having means at its corners for attachment thereto of the upper ends of lower corner uprights and for attachment thereto of the lower ends of upper corner uprights, said means being so constructed as to hold said ends against horizontal and vertical displacement when erected.

The invention further includes a building unit comprising a single rigid ground floor member, four ground floor corner uprights, at least one intermediate floor made according to the invention, and four corner uprights for each upper storey and a roof member.

The intermediate floor member may comprise two metal beams parallel to each other to form sides of the intermediate floor member and connected together, a floor deck above the beams connected thereto, and a suspended ceiling located below the beams. A layer of fire proofing material may be provided between the ceiling and beams. The ground floor uprights may be connected to the ground floor member and intermediate floor member by sockets. The upper storey uprights may be connected to the roof member by means which permit these uprights to gravitate from a horizontal position to a vertical position.

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The complete building will comprise at least three such units fixed together laterally so that their roof members form a continuous roof.

We will now describe a constructional form of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of a unit suitable for constructing a building in accordance with the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of one end of the intermediate fioor member of said unit;

FIGURE 2a is a plan view of the other end of the intermediate floor member;

FIGURE 3 is a side elevation of said intermediate floor member;

FIGURE 4 is an end view thereof with some end parts removed;

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view on line 5--5 on FIG- URE 4; and

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of sockets attached to the intermediate floor member.

A ground floor member 10 is made as described in said prior patents having side joists connected by transverse bars and/or braced panels. This floor member is provided with metal sockets 9 at the corners, the sockets each having an inclined bottom plate regarded from the long side of the floor member, the lower edge of the inclined plate being nearer to the transverse median line of the floor member than the upper edge. Four hollow steel corner posts 11 of rectangular section have inclined lower end plates which seat on said inclined socket plates so that the lower ends of the posts 11 slide down and towards the said median line.

An intermediate floor member 8 comprises two side frames or steel trusses or beams each formed from upper and lower angle bars 12, 13, each having a vertical flange and a horizontal flange.

Upper and lower vertical flat bars 14, 15 are located adjacent the vertical flanges of the angle bars. A continuous sinuous rod 16 extends between the upper and lower bars and is welded to the bars thereby forming an open framework steel truss or beam.

The two side beams are connected together by wooden cross joists 23 parallel to each other and spaced apart from each other along the beams. These joists seat on the horizontal flanges of the upper angle bars and are connected thereto as by screws 25. These joists carry a suspended ceiling located below the joists. For this purpose the joists have triangular plywood boards or gussets 17, 18 on either side at the ends. Between these boards is a spacer bar 19 and a pair of wood battens 20, 21 between which is a metal plate 22 serving as a suspension plate for the ceiling. The lower ends of the two suspension plates of each joist are fixed in a split vertical limb of a T-section bar 24 that extends across between the beams. The T-bar enters slots in panels 26 of a fireproofing layer on the bottom of which is fixed a ceiling 27 of plywood or other sheet material. An asbestos strip 28 in the slots also serves for fireproofing. A bolt 30 through the boards and suspension plate carries a bracket 31 which is bolted to the angle bar 13 of the adjacent beam.

At the four corners of the intermediate floor member 8 and projecting from the ends thereof are socket members 35 each comprising a vertical plate 36 carrying on one side thereof horizontal plates 37, 38 bolted to the adjacent beam. Projecting outwardly from the other side of plate 36 and at right angles thereto are two vertical socket wall plates 40, 41 between which are two inclined plates 42, 43, the upper (42) of which is inclined at 45 with its lower end nearer to the median line of the intermediate floor member than its other end while the lower plate 43 is inclined also at about 45 with its upper end nearer to said median line than its other end. Thus each socket member 35 forms upper and lower sockets to receive the lower ends of four rectangular section upper storey steel uprights 48 and the upper ends of the lower ground floor uprights 11. These ends have their end faces 49 at inclined planes corresponding to the inclined socket plates so that they slide along the socket plates into tight engagement against the vertical locating plates 36 inwardly of the floor 8.

The lower uprights 11 are attached at their upper ends to the trusses by means of flexible straps 50 whereby the uprights can be stowed for transport in a position below the trusses parallel thereto and as the intermediate horizontal fioor member is raised by a crane during erection the uprights fall to their vertical positions and their inclined ends can be easily entered into the sockets.

The flexible devices 50 can, for example, be flexible flat strips of webbing leather or polyamide or like resinous material, one such strip being fixed, for example, to the inside surface of the upright while its other end is fixed, for example, to the underside of the said member.

A clip or other fixing means may be provided to attach the free end of the upright to said member during transport.

Each upright may be arranged to lie end to end with the upright at the other end and same side of said member for which purpose said member may be at least twice as long as the length of the upright. However, the flexible strips 50 have the advantage that the uprights need not be less than half the length of said member but may be more than half this length.

The ends of the strip may be clamped in position by metal plates and bolts.

The length of the strip 50 and the fixing positions may be so selected that when the upright is lowered it is automatically brought below the socket ready for insertion into the socket.

The upper storey uprights are pivotally mounted on pivots 61 at their upper ends on the roof member 60. The roof member 60, intermediate floor member 8 and floor member 10 may have a length at least twice their width and at least twice the height of the uprights 48 and 11 attached thereto. These members 60, 8, 10 may all be about the same length and width or the roof may be slightly longer and wider, and are all rigid structures of fixed area and the whole structure including the uprights can be collapsed to form a fiat pack which can be secured together and loaded on to a lorry. In the flat pack the uprights lie horizontally between the floor member and the panels 26. On arrival at the building site the whole pack is lifted off the lorry and lowered on to prepared footings or foundation. The ground floor member is released and the remainder is lifted thereby allowing the uprights 11 to fall to their vertical positions whereupon their ends are entered into the sockets 9. The roof is then disconnected from the intermediate floor member and raised whereby the upper storey uprights 48 fall to their vertical positions and are entered into their sockets 35 whereupon the roof member is lowered. Final fixing bolts, panels or the like can then be applied to render the whole structure rigid.

For attaching the floor members and roof members together during transport we may provide four frame structures, two to be attached at each long side of the pack. Each structure comprises two vertical angle bars spaced apart and connected together by three horizontal bars, one at the top, one nearly halfway down, and one near the bottom. The top bar can be bolted to a bracket on the roof member, the middle bar can be bolted to the beam of the intermediate floor member and the lower bar can be bolted to a bracket on the ground floor memher. The lower ends of the angle bars can be bolted to a fixing on the lorry. The middle bar is extended at its ends beyond the angle bars and to each end is pivoted a bar. These two bars extend downwardly and away from the angle bars at an angle of about thereto and their lower ends are bolted to the ground floor member. The parts of the pack are by this means all firmly located longitudinally and transversely during transport and on site the ground floor member can be released and the roof member lifted and finally the frame structures can be removed.

These packs each form a building unit and at least three are required to form any reasonably sized building. The units can be connected end to end and/or side by side. Adjacent beams may be bolted together by bolted brackets and adjacent uprights may be fixed together by any suitable means.

The building may be strengthened and stiffened by fixing wind bracing wall panels, doors and window panels in the sides of the building. Wind bracing panels may be made by a rectangular frame divided by vertical and horizontal bars into smaller rectangles serving as a spacer frame for a plywood board on one side and a metal sheet (e.g. 2O s.w.g. steel sheet) on the other. The steel sheet may be faced both sides with sheets of fireproofing material.

A staircase may be fitted inside and/or outside the building.

If desired the upper ends of uprights 48 could be socketed in roof instead of being pivotally attached. The lower ends of uprights 48 may be pivoted to the floor member 8. Similarly, the upper or lower ends of uprights 11 may be pivoted to members 8 or 10.

More than two storeys may be provided, i.e. for a three storey building there will be members 10 and 60, two members 8, two sets of uprights 11, and one set of uprights 48.

The ends of uprights engaged in sockets may have holes therein aligning with holes in the sockets to receive fixing pins or bolts.

We claim:

1. A building unit comprising an intermediate floor, lower corner uprights for supporting the floor, a roof, and upper corner uprights for supporting the roof on the intermediate floor, said intermediate floor having means at its corners for attachment thereto of the upper ends of the lower corner uprights and for attachment thereto of the lower ends of the upper corner uprights, said means comprising upper and lower sockets at each corner to receive the corner uprights, each socket having a flat surface inclined to the horizontal and an adjacent vertical locating wall, each of said uprights having an inclined end surface to seat on the inclined surface of the corresponding socket and an adjacent vertical surface to seat against the vertical locating wall of the socket whereby in use said end is urged against said wall by the weight of the structure.

2. A rectangular floor member as claimed in claim 1, wherein the means at each corner comprise two vertical plates, two oppositely inclined plates secured between the vertical plates, and a third vertical plate across the first vertical plates at the apex of the inclined plates.

3. A building structure as claimed in claim 1 wherein said floor member comprises a prefabricated unit formed by two metal beams parallel to each other to form sides of the member, cross members connecting said sides together, a floor above the beams connected thereto, and a suspended ceiling located below the beams.

4. A building structure as claimed in claim 1 wherein said rectangular floor member comprises a prefabricated unit formed by two metal beams parallel to each other to form sides of the member, cross members connecting said sides together, a floor above the beams connected thereto, and a suspended ceiling located below the beams, each said beams comprising upper and lower pairs of 5 bars and a continuous sinuous rod extending between them and welded to them.

5. A building structure as claimed in claim 1 wherein said rectangular floor member comprises a prefabricated unit formed by two metal beams parallel to each other to form sides of the member, cross members connecting said sides together, a floor above the beams connected thereto, and a suspended ceiling located below the beams, and including depending pairs of gussets on the cross members, and suspension plates for the ceiling carried by said gussets.

6. A building structure as claimed in claim 1 wherein said uprights are attached to said floor member by flexible devices whereby the uprights can be disconnected from 6 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 25,827 8/1965 Bigelow 52-64 X 3,103,709 9/1963 Bolt 52-126 X 3,274,728 9/1966 Koch 287--54 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,108,787 9/1955 France. 1,278,353 10/1961 France. 1,313,383 11/1962 France. 1,357,074 2/1964 France. 1,371,438 7/1964 France.

794,613 5/ 1958 Great Britain.

said sockets and disposed parallel to said member for 15 FRANK ABBOTT Pflmdry Emmingn transport.

ALFRED C. PERHAM, Assistant Examiner. 

